For the first time in its 20-year history, the triennial Faithfulness in Ministry conference included a day hosted at Moore College, equipping hundreds of Sydney Anglican leaders to build healthy churches.

While sessions were also hosted at Hoxton Park, Carlingford, and Figtree, the extension to the Moore College campus marked a significant milestone for the event.

“The students here today are the leaders in our churches tomorrow, and the faculty are helping to shape them for ministry,” said Lachlan Bryant, Director of the Office of Safe Ministry (ODSM). “We really want them to be sitting under this teaching about healthy churches.”

The triennial conference serves as vital in-service training for all clergy and lay ministers across the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Hosted by Archbishop Kanishka Raffel and delivered by the ODSM team, the event drew hundreds of participants across its various venues.

Mr Bryant was thrilled with the new partnership. “It's very significant because we haven't done this before,” he said. “This conference has been running in different ways over 20 years, but we welcome the opportunity to be with the college community for the first time.”

The conference featured key insights from mental health social worker and clinical family therapist Lauren Errington, alongside Tim Dyer, a specialist trainer for pastors and Christian leaders across Australia.

The theme of healthy churches clearly resonated with participants, as Moore College vice-principal, the Rev Dr Paul Grimmond, noted that final attendance numbers exceeded initial registrations.

“Ongoing safe ministry training is so important for our students,” Dr Grimmond said. “The presenters were both excellent and the day was concrete, useful and extremely encouraging. In conversations with faculty and students, there was a high level of positive feedback about the content and the opportunity for the training to happen at college.”

“We are looking forward to continuing to run these days in the future.”